Pictures & musings from Cheshire
Cycling to Castleton, Derbyshire in May 2018, a fantastic long and challenging ride from home with some of the most dramatic scenery in the “white peak” region of the peak district. The picture above was taken during a break on the return trip close to Chapel-en-le-Frith an has been treated with various texture layers to flatten out the dynamics particularly in the sky which had many areas of clipping.
Getting down low in Pott Shrigley, Cheshire. I liked the abandoned telecoms line heading up the side of the hill and ending with a cut off. This combined with a certain primitivist and abstract submersion in nature. The image has been toned to simulate the look of an old platinum print and some texture layers have also been applied to flatten out dynamic range.
A very old and narrow footbridge across the river Bollin near Mottram Hall. This is an obscure footpath that runs from Prestbury to the bottom of the golf course at Mottram Hall hotel. It is a path that I have rarely used until recently as it is a nice avoiding route for that last bit of hill on the Axxx when heading back to the village on the very last leg of the return from a long bike ride out west.
I like the geometric and perspective effect in the wide shot and the tonal quality of the wood, earth and winter leaves. Both of the images have been blended with a paper texture layer.
A high angle view of the bridge looking in the direction of home – or rather home is a ninety degree turn to the right as indicated by the sign. Red and yellow levels have been pushed up in the conversion to create a look that is a little reminiscent of infrared film.
The ‘top fields’ in Prestbury, Cheshire, a winter scene that was soon to be doused in snow. Trees are a favourite subject and I think I have said that many times before as I have rather a lot of pictures that prominently feature them. This image has been treated with orton layer effects and textures, an interesting way to cover blur anomalies in small details such as the moving branches and it has also been treated to give the effect of a platinum print.
Winter, cold, icy conditions in the Bollin Valley, Prestbury, Cheshire. A study in shape, bokeh and texture with some abstract elements. These images from 2013 have grown on me over the years and I (now) like the degraded (grainy) and overly abstracted backgrounds in these.
A few semi-experimental pictures from a night on Hale station. This is a very special location for me, and a place that featured prominently in my childhood. I spent many hours here watching trains, generally relaxing, or occasionally taking a ride to Chester or Llandudno and for many in Hale and Altrincham it was the holiday line. it was also a favourite retreat in my school lunchtimes.
The station is a listed building and quite deservedly so. The beautiful canopies date back to the era of the Cheshire Lines Committee, the organisation responsible for building and operating the Mid Cheshire line in its earliest days. Hale station building, or more specifically the canopies, and the now sadly out of use signal box, are very important townscape features and a focal point in the large suburban village of Hale, much of which was developed around the railway and rapidly became a well-healed retreat for commuting Manchester cotton tots. Though in my life-time the setting has changed a lot!
The route was always very busy with a variety of freight mostly heading to and from the industrial heartlands of west Cheshire, Liverpool and Warrington which included the iconic Tunstead to Northwich stone trains. The line is continuing to see a growth in both freight and passenger traffic today with a dramatic increase in night freight traffic due to a lack of day time capacity – some of this traffic is literally travelling from one end of the country to the other. The mid Cheshire is quite a well connected line and can be used as a relief route for anything heading for any part of the network in the south including London, Wales and the West country but is still designated as a secondary route – not a main line.
